Moulin Rouge - Audrey's Story
by DancingDiclonius
Summary: I was disappointed when I saw that hardly anyone writes fanfiction about Audrey (the playwright that appeared at the beginning of the film but left because of Christian). This story tells the dramatic tales of Audrey's everyday life, featuring some of my OC's. Please R&R!
1. Audrey likes to be alone

_(Montmartre, France – Circa 1899)_

It was a bustling autumn afternoon in the village of Montmartre and the citizens were carelessly lollygagging around the place, just having a good time. There were those certain folks who needed to get to a destination on time, others just wanted to explore their surroundings, it wasn't unusual for the Parisians to find beauty in their own city, let alone their village. Although millions of people loved to venture outside, there were some that found pleasure in staying inside their apartments all day. That person was none other than Audrey Delacroix.

Some people put everything into their work, their heart, soul, mind, and even their well-being, that is exactly what Audrey did every single day. Audrey liked to stay inside his apartment and write plays for the Moulin Rouge. She would rarely hang out with her friends unless they had a huge emergency that they needed her help with. "There's no time for friends or the outside world. Playwriting is where my heart is and I'll never let that go!" Audrey would repeat, many times until people didn't want to bother with her anymore, they figured that she liked being alone, but what most people didn't know was that Audrey was responsible for more than just the fate of the Moulin Rouge's productions. She had to take care of something, or someone even more special than writing.

"Audrey!"

A girl's voice was heard from the door of the apartment. She was no more than fourteen and she'd just returned from school. This young woman was Louise – Audrey's adopted daughter.

"You locked the door again!"

"Wait a minute! I have to finish the second act!" Audrey called to Louise. She was starting to get irritated.

"You'll be up 'til midnight again writing your stupid play! Can't you stop for one minute to unlock the door?"

Audrey got offended easily and didn't like it when people called her plays stupid. There was one thing that she hated more than that - being criticized and she wasn't going to take it from a silly girl who knew nothing of the intricate work of writing. She went over to unlock the door and found Louise standing in the doorway holding a stack of books. "What are all those for?" She asked.

"Nothing, just some stupid homework." Louise responded. "I'll get everything done." Louise knew what was coming to her, she knew the consequences of insulting Audrey's hard work. She knew that she was unable to leave her apartment, maybe for many years. It wasn't the worst thing she said, but she should have had some freedom of speech! What was wrong with that?

* * *

"The Queen of writing wouldn't like it if you insulted her royal works!"

"Don't call Audrey a Queen, you'll boost her ego more than it already is. It's so big it's dragging her into space!."

Louise found a way to sneak out of the apartment through her bedroom window. She had long been used to sneaking out, so this was no problem for her, all it took was a couple of bed sheets. Once she got her homework done she wandered the streets of Montmartre and eventually met up with her friends – Daniel Villeneuve and The Rosseau Twins – Geneviéve and Renée. Daniel looked as if he worked in the dirt all the time, having tattered clothes and unkempt blonde hair. The Rosseau twins were identical, looking like mirror images sporting long dark hair and the same floral dresses that their mom made for them. The only thing that set them apart were the bows in their hair - Geneviéve's white and Renée's yellow. They sat in their usual spot, outside the Bar Absinthe and talked about what was going on in their lives. They've been doing this ever since they were little children. Louise was talking about how unfair Audrey was being and she asked for her friends opinions.

"And then she said that I knew nothing about theatre and how hard she works. She barely has any time for me! It's always Audrey this and Audrey that!" Louise exclaimed. Louise had a problem with being selfish, she wanted all eyes on her and her friends noticed that.

"Well, it's not about you all the time Louise." Daniel said "there's a lot of interesting people in the world. If you were the only person the world would be boring."

"And we wouldn't be your friends." The twins said in unison.

Louise struck a revelation, maybe there were other people who were more interesting than her. She could automatically think of twenty people off the top of her head, but the most interesting person that she could think of first was Satine. Louise looked up to Satine as a big sister and wanted to become just like her when she grew up. Suddenly, Louise had an idea. "Do you guys think that I could bring Satine to school for career day? She's plenty interesting!"

Her friends were skeptical about the idea. Their parents had always told them the many tales of the Moulin Rouge, the many sex scandals, false love, suggestive dancing, and drunken Bohemians. They automatically assumed that if they brought Satine to school, they would be expelled on the spot!

"It will be the best career day ever!" Louise exclaimed.

"We don't want to crush your dreams Louise" Geneviéve interfered "but if we brought her to school we'd get in big trouble."

"She's right." Daniel said "you don't want to get expelled do you?"

Back at home, Audrey was typing away at her typewriter, the second act was almost finished. _"Now I'll have time to spend with Louise"_ she thought. She watched as the words danced on the paper, it was a beautiful sight, the play was amazing, but most importantly – Zidler was going to love it! Audrey dreamed about the praise Zidler was going to give her for her hard work.

_"Oh Audrey, you've really outdone yourself this time! This play will make the Moulin Rouge millions! You're truly the best. What would we do without you?"_

Suddenly, a loud knock on the door interrupted her dream. "Open the door!" It must have been Louise again. Now that Audrey finished writing her play, she unlocked the door and found Louise with her friends, the twins greeted her with a "Bonjour" and the quartet politely entered the apartment. It was much safer than the streets and the friends were welcome there anytime on account of their parents rarely being around because of work. Next to the Bar Absinthe, Louise's apartment was their hangout of choice.

"Louise, I don't want you going over to that bar anymore. It's dangerous." Audrey scolded. She had become used to the fact that Louise wanted to go out on her own and she respected that, but the Bar Absinthe was no place for a fourteen year old.

"It's not like we're hurting anybody." Louise said "while we were there, we saw Monsieur Lautrec, he wanted to know how you were doing."

"Tell him I'm very busy." Audrey said.

The quartet went into Louise's room to talk about things, they figured that they should get out of Audrey's way. She worked better when they wandered off somewhere else. Louise and company were sitting in Louise's bedroom still discussing career day.

"It's not happening for a while now, you have plenty of time to choose someone." Renée said "you could bring Monsieur Lautrec, that would be funny." Louise objected to that idea.

"Maybe so, but he would tell everyone to start drinking. Not a good influence."

"And Satine is?" Daniel said.

"Calm down, she loves children. She can control herself, I'm sure of it." Her friends started to think about how the event would go down.

"Okay Louise, you win. It's not for another five months so bring her and we'll see how it goes down!" Renée said. Louise loved a challenge, she gratefully accepted it with a smile on her face.

"Will do."

* * *

**AN: So how was it? Was it bad, good, worth reading at all? I personally think that my story could use some work and I will continue to work on the chapters in the future. If anyone has advice for me, please let me know.**


	2. It was her dream!

Louise had to walk ten miles to school. She got up at 4:30 in the morning so she wouldn't be late and she would meet her friends near the same street every morning. The twins would usually sit outside of the Moulin Rouge waiting for the others and staring at the drunk people laying in the streets. For entertainment they would poke the bodies with sticks to see if they were alive. Geneviéve was the more adventurous one during times like these. However, Renée was more laid back and could get scared easily.

"Is he breathing?"

"I don't know. Poke him."

"I don't want to! What if he's a crazy person and tries to kill us!"

"Stop being so scared."

When the group was all together they made their trek to school. Louise had always did that with her friends, that's the way it was and has been for many years. She'd always come home with a lot of homework, though she didn't mind it, she could find it stupid at times, she would think that the teachers expect too much of her. She tried to trudge through it even though homework was like a monster to her. Sometimes Audrey would be at the Moulin Rouge all day and she would do homework there, this day in particular. She had trouble concentrating because Zidler's Diamond Dogs were on stage practicing their dancing, in which she loved to watch. Louise watched dreamily and felt herself melting away, being taken away to a fantasy land. Someday she wanted to dance up there.

"Why aren't you studying?" Louise immediately awoke from her daydreams of can-can dancers to hear a heavenly voice speak to her. It was Satine. Louise was happy to see her.

"I thought you were on stage!" she exclaimed.

"Oh no, I'm not in this scene. I wanted to see how you were doing, Audrey wants you to do your homework." The girl looked over at Audrey and saw that she was giving her a cold look. She wanted the best for her, but Louise felt like she was pushing her, just a little bit.

"She expects too much of me. I don't want to sit around and write papers all day. I want to go up there and dance with them, just this once!" Louise said, bouncing up and down, her long brown curls in her face.

"You'll get there someday. I just know it!" Satine said to her in a consoling way. She was truly Louise's big sister.

Louise had danced for the Moulin Rouge before, but no one really cared to notice her because of her age, or if they noticed her they felt dirty watching her because she was underage. That's what she thought and it was slowly eating her confidence. She worked very hard for six years to make a name for herself at that place, she didn't care if it took 'til she was twenty-one, which it probably would, but she didn't mind. It was her dream!

She didn't want to disappoint Audrey, but the one thing was, she wanted her to pursue writing like she did, Louise was clearly not interested in that. This sparked many arguments about her career choices.

_"Writing is an art form Louise."_

"Dancing is too. Dancing conveys your emotions."

"Writing does it better!"

* * *

Louise watched as Audrey directed the Diamond Dogs' choreography, perfecting their movements for the play she said she was writing. Louise stared in wonder as the dancers tried to fix their mistakes and listened as Audrey explained what emotions they had to feel. Maybe she _didn't_ know anything about the play after all.

At times like these, it was best not to interfere with Audrey's work. She would go into what people would call "production mode" and get really angry if you interrupted her train of thoughts. She thought that if you made one mistake the entire play would be ruined, that's why it was important to stay on top of things. During times like these, Louise would hang out in the Elephant Room or go outside so she wouldn't bother anybody. She was known for her bouncy attitude.

"Alright everyone, take a break!" Audrey shouted. Everyone sure as hell needed a break after rehearsing for two hours. The dancers were sweating and panting, they were rushing to get water and in no time at all, they had consumed all the water they had. Louise spotted Audrey sitting at one of the tables taking notes, she could finally ask her the long-awaited question – "What is the play about?"

"Well, I have a surprise for you darling." Audrey said to her.

"What is it?" Louise asked.

"The play is about you."


	3. She would be called Montmarte's Angel

Louise stood as frozen as a block of ice. The play was about her? She wasn't _that_ interesting. Although, she felt that it was nice to have a play written about her. This was her moment, she would get her chance in the limelight, people would finally notice her for once. Still, she couldn't help but be suspicious.

"Why would you write a play about me?" she asked. Audrey was so happy that she felt like exploding. "Well, your birthday is coming up and I thought you would like a present. How would you like to be the star of your own show? I think you've been -"

Suddenly, Harold Zidler interrupted their conversation. "Can I speak with you two?"

As they sat in Zidler's office they couldn't help but feel nervous and excited at the same time. What was the meaning of this? Was it good? Zidler's news could mean anything.

"Audrey, you've done a wonderful job with the production. Louise, I've noticed your hard work around here. You've been dancing your heart out for many years and I respect that. So, I think it's about time you made a name for yourself."

Louise had always had a close relationship with Zidler, she could remember when Audrey would leave her with him so he could take care of her while she went shopping. Satine would follow along and they would act as her babysitters. One time when she was five, they were walking through town and came across a shop window that sold candy, which little Louise couldn't resist.

"Oooo! Look how big that lollipop is! Can I have it? Can I? Pleeease?" At the time Zidler couldn't say no to the child and would get her anything.

"Of course, my little pigeon, I'll buy you that. You can have whatever you want!" Satine took him away from the girl and spoke to him in private.

"Harold, you have to learn to say no to that girl. Did you see the size of that lollipop? She'll never finish it, so it's a waste of money." Satine said.

"But my dear, I have to do something for her." Satine had an idea,

"For god's sake Harold! You've bought her all kinds of candy, stuffed animals... diamonds. Why on earth would you buy her a diamond for Christmas? She doesn't know the appeal of them yet."

"Well diamonds are a girls best friend." Harold replied. Satine thought about that. She wanted Louise to be exposed to the underworld, but at the same time she wanted her to have a normal childhood.

"Why don't we all go out for ice cream together." She said.

Louise was sad about the lollipop, but got over it when she found out about the ice cream. She loved going to Monmartre's local ice cream parlor and in the present day, would go with her friends to that place on certain occasions. The group sat at one of the outside tables and talked, laughed, and joked around, forgetting their business at the cabaret and simply bonded together, as if they were a family. This was one of the happy memories that Louise would never forget.

* * *

Louise couldn't believe her ears. She could finally dance with the Diamond Dogs, or maybe when she got good enough, dance by herself. Her dreams were slowly coming true. She fell to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. "Thank you so much!" she cried "I am finally worth something!"

"Don't say that!" Audrey said "You were always worth something."

"I was?" Louise asked.

"Of course you were." Audrey replied "everyone is."

"Well, I've finally found my place around here. How about that?" Louise said back.

Harold joined the conversation, full of questions about the play and Louise's stage name. The play didn't even have a name yet and Louise was just Louise. "We have to decide a name for the play and it has to relate to young Louise over here." Zidler explained. After an hour of thinking, Louise had an idea.

"Montmartre's Angel! That could be my name."

Louise paced around the room while Harold and Audrey took notes, it took them a good five minutes to stop what they were doing and listen to her. The name 'Montmartre's Angel' seemed like a mediocre name compared to most stage names that the dancers harbored, but Louise was fourteen going on fifteen after all and she didn't want to go for anything too risqué. "Isn't it the cutest stage name ever?" she asked. They both liked it a lot. It was a good stage name and and seemed like a wonderful title for the play.

"I want to go see what Satine thinks!" Louise said, and off she went, she ran out of Zidler's office like a bolt of lightning.

"She is an energetic one." Zidler said "she's worked very hard. She deserves this."

"I just like to see her blossom on stage." Audrey replied dreamily.

"Now that Louise's situation is out-of-the-way" Zidler started "I would like to tell you that thousands of the best playwrights in Montmartre are coming to see your play, they'll be looking for new ideas and inspiration and -" Audrey could barely contain herself, _thousands_ of playwrights were coming to watch her play. That's never happened before!

"This is fantastic!" She interrupted "Do you know who's going to attend?"

"Well," Zidler said "That's what I wanted to say. I regret to tell you that the playwright Victor Sauveterre will be attending our production."

Audrey felt dead inside, she felt like she should have stopped the thing when she could, but it was too late. She sat in a chair, frozen solid. Zidler asked "Audrey, are you alright?" No, nothing was going to be alright, not at this rate, not now and certainly not during the night of the production.

"I can't do it." Audrey said "I can't let him know that I wrote this play. I just won't show up."

Zidler had become confused, He'd never seen her act so cowardly before.

"If he comes here, will he interfere with your devotion?" He asked.


	4. My greatest rivial

Audrey didn't want to answer the question, she would've loved for an angel of some sort to swoop in and take her to some far away place, anywhere but in front of a curious Zidler wanting to know about her personal relations. She couldn't stand it any longer.

"Is he going to ruin this play?" Harold asked. Deep in her heart Audrey knew that if she didn't answer this question, she could lose her job and end up on the street. She didn't want that to happen, it was too much for her. Living in the street would be most _un_spectacular!. She just had to come out and say it, say it and get it over with -

"You know what happened. He's my greatest rival! If he saw our production, he would destroy me and do anything to shut the Moulin Rouge down. I hate him so much!" Audrey exclaimed, bitterness and hatred flowing through her. This was the side of Audrey that Zidler had never seen before. He was normally used to her being bright, happy and extremely devoted to her work. She'd never hated anyone before.

"Still? I thought you would have gotten over him by now. Maybe he's changed." Harold assured, but Audrey couldn't see that happening, Victor was a horrible man and he would stay the same forever. "He won't change. He's evil! When he arrives at the doors tell him that he's not allowed in." Audrey gave Harold a menacing look, Victor was serious business.

Meanwhile, Louise was rehearsing with the Diamond Dogs, her all time dream. She was practicing the usual can-can dance with Nini and Môme Fromage until she saw her friends come storming through the doors. "Louise!" They yelled. Immediately, Louise jumped off of the stage and ran to see her friends, whom she hadn't seen all day.

"Where are you going!" Nini snapped at Louise. For wanting to dance so bad, she seemed to want to hang out with her friends more.

"I'll only be a few minutes." Louise said. The more advanced dancers were getting annoyed by her constant absences.

"I know kids like to have fun, but when those kids come in she leaves us every time. They're distracting her from dancing." Môme Fromage said.

"Let her be." Nini replied "She'll come back, she'll learn to sit still eventually."

Louise and her friends were wandering around the Moulin Rouge. As Louise showed them how the production was doing, they stared in awe. "Everyone is working really hard!" Geneviéve said to Louise "When can we see your play?" Louise was bursting with excitement, she could hardly wait to finally be in the spotlight. "It's going to start in two weeks." Louise said happily.

The main reason the kids were there was to see Daniel's mother. She was involved in the play as well, not as a dancer, but as a singer. Daniel's mom was an opera singer for the Moulin Rouge and would sing for food scraps. She was the Villeneuve family's main source of income. The quartet followed a harmonious voice to another section of the bordello, they were becoming enticed as they heard Mrs. Villeneuve sing another aria, this one being the very famous Habenera from 'Carmen'. She was about to finish as the children entered the room.

**"Tout atour de toi, vite vite,  
Il vient, s'en va, puis il revient.  
Tu crois le tenir, il t'evite.  
Tu crois l'eviter, il te tient.**

L'amour! L'amour! L'amour! L'amour!

L'amour est enfant de Bohême,  
Il n'a jamais jamais connu de loi.  
Si tou né m'aimes pas, je t'aime.  
Si je t'aime, prends garde à toi!

Si tou né m'aimes pas, si tou né m'aimes pas, je t'aime,  
Mais si je t'aime, si je t'aime, prends garde à toi!"

The quartet clapped along with the Bourgeois audience that was viewing her performance. "She was really good!" Renée said to Daniel, he wanted to be modest about the performance so he replied "thank you very much" and watched as his mother collected the donations of food. Unlike most of the dancers who would dance for diamonds, Mrs. Villeneuve would sing her heart out for money to buy food or even physical food that the patrons wouldn't eat, they would give it to her.

"We have enough food to last us a week Daniel!" Mrs. Villeneuve called to her son. She got down from the stage and presented the food scraps to him. "Take these to your father, he'll be overjoyed to eat something for once." Daniel was too, he took a loaf of bread out of the bag the food he carried and greedily ate the thing.

"Thank you mom. We saw your performance and it was good." Daniel said. His mother liked compliments, who didn't like compliments after working so hard? After talking with her son, she went back on stage to please the crowd, to sing Die Nachtigall.

**"Geuß nicht so laut der liebentflammten Lieder**

Tonreichen Schall

Vom Blütenast des Apfelbaums hernieder,

O Nachtigall!"

They left her to her song and wandered around the bordello some more until they bumped into Audrey. She was still thinking about other ways to get rid of Victor.

"Hello Audrey. Are you excited for the play?" Louise asked. She knew that Louise was very excited, but She was not. Audrey didn't want to disappoint Louise or everyone else, so she figured that cancelling the play wasn't an option, she was going to face her fears and deal with Victor in a civilized way.

"Yes Louise, I'm more excited than ever."


	5. The night of the play

The people involved with the play had rehearsed for months on end, it seemed like they would never stop. The rehearsals would last for hours and Audrey encouraged her actors to stay for a bit after the rehearsals were over so they could touch up on certain scenes. Audrey wanted to make this the best birthday present Louise has ever had. Although it seemed like forever, the night of the play eventually came. The playwrights that Harold had mentioned were arriving and got to sit in their own reserved section of seats. Audrey had spotted Victor, he dressed up all fancy and carrying a bag of some sort. Satine, waiting for the curtain call, saw the very handsome Victor trudging through the crowd. He was easy to spot because he was wearing a top hat with some weird feather in it, for some reason. She tapped on Audrey's shoulder.

"Who's the handsome man with the feather hat?" she asked. Audrey peeked outside from the curtain to see who it was, she almost let out a scream that vibrated the entire theatre.

"Don't talk to him. You are way too good to talk to such trash!"

"What's wrong?" Satine asked "he's not hurting anybody. Why are you calling him such names?"

Audrey wasn't paying attention to Satine's questions, she was more concerned about Victor's bag and what was in it. "Look at his bag. He's going to kill me! I'm not surprised!" Getting Audrey worked up before a show was the worst thing ever and Satine knew this, she had to do something soon, or all hell would break loose.

"Calm down." She said "Don't worry about him, focus on Louise, she's counting on you to make this the best play she's ever seen. You don't want to let her down on her birthday, do you?"

Audrey peeked again and saw Louise's friends sitting near the front row, accompanied by her older sister – Élisabeth. They seemed excited to see the production and were almost bouncing out of their seats. That calmed Audrey down instantly. She hadn't seen her sister in years and was glad that she cared enough to attend her production. It was two minutes 'til curtain call and everyone was anxiously getting ready.

"Is everyone here?" Audrey asked.

"Yes they are!" An unknown voice called. After that, they were ready for the show.

Audrey saw Louise pacing around backstage. She was more nervous than she has ever been.

"Are you alright?" Audrey asked.

Louise said "I don't know. Do you think they'll like me? What if I forget my line?"

"If you think you're going to do something then you end up doing it." Audrey said "You'll do great." Louise smiled.

"Just don't fuck up or I'll kill you." Louise's smile faded after that.

While everyone was backstage working their heads off, Louise's friends were anxiously awaiting the start of the play. Being early teens, they were impatient and were having a hard time sitting still, on the twins' part, it was probably because of too much sugar.

"What's taking so long?" Renée whined, she was less mature than her sister even though they were the same age. After waiting for an hour, everyone else got impatient. Élisabeth attempted to calm the children down.

"Now, children, the people working back there need a lot of time to prepare. If they started now, the play would be an absolute disaster! Patience is very important when it comes to theatre."

"I don't know how these adults can wait so long." Daniel said "they better be working hard back there." Daniel was eager to see his mother in another production.

"Or, they could be having a party and they're not inviting us!" Renée exclaimed.

"Well, I think –" Before Élisabeth could finish her sentence, the lights dimmed, the stage lights brightened and the show had finally started. The kids wanted to yell and jump for joy, but they knew that they were in front of a bunch of Bourgeois people, so they tried to act as polite and orderly as possible. It was hard for them.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Tonight we will be presenting the tale of Louise Delacroix!" The unknown man on stage yelled. As the play started, the kids saw saw Louise star as herself, They watched as Louise starred in her own show, saying her lines with much emotion.

"Dancing is my dream! I will stop at nothing to dance!" Louise expressed.

"Yeah! Go Louise!" The trio shouted, only to be shushed by Élisabeth.

Suddenly, the scene ended. The next part began with Mrs. Villeneuve singing an aria that was relevant to Louise's experiences, this was Louise's favorite part of the play because she admired the opera singers and what they could do with their voices. It intrigued her so much that she would get lost in the song lyrics.

**"Have you ever wondered what she is like?**

Come – and listen to stories of her past;

To survive, she walks the streets to hitchhike;

Lo! She will refrain from that life. Avast!

Dancing being her dream, she will achieve;

Working hard all of her life – many years;

To reach your dream, you just need to believe;

And not be all encompassed by your fears;

Adopted by a man of free spirit;

Will she understand and follow this life?

This life soon became her way, her favorite;

Her dreams and new way don't cause her much strife;

She wanders around with her friends of free ideas;

Their spirits reach to the Celestias."

The audience applauded and Mrs. Villeneuve bowed. She enjoyed singing and the attention that came with it. The children enjoyed her aria very much, especially Louise.

"That was a great song. It was very beautiful." Louise said to Mrs. Villeneuve as she appeared backstage.

One hour later, the play ended and everyone bowed, Élisabeth brought flowers for the children to throw at the stage. They aimed for Louise, Satine and Daniel's mother. Even though they missed their targets, they knew that their desired people would find the flowers and pick them up. Élisabeth and the children went backstage to find Audrey and Louise to reward her for her hard work, plus she meant to meet with some of the playwrights that attended the production, so she was plenty nervous. Élisabeth was the first to see her since she hadn't seen her brother, now turned sister in years.

"Audrey. That was your best work yet! You've really outdone yourself." Élisabeth said. She handed her sister a bouquet of flowers that she had left-over. Audrey was elated to see her sister again. "Élisabeth! How nice to see you. Thank you very much for taking care of Louise's friends."

"It was no problem. I love them so. They are such darlings, even though they were hard to handle sometimes, I'm used to it, having kids of my own."

After a nice reunion, Audrey went to talk to the playwrights and to face the fiercest one of all – Victor. As she came out from backstage, she saw that Victor and three other playwrights were speaking with Zidler and Satine. That wasn't a good sign, they might been talking about him negatively.

"Excuse me?" Audrey intervened. Zidler noticed her and introduced her to the playwrights.

"And this is our _amazingly_ talented writer – Audrey Delacroix."

Victor recognized her immediately and felt that he had to say something. He had to make a good impression. "I know you." He said "You –" Before he could finish his sentence, Audrey began to face her fears. "Victor, I want to speak with you outside." Victor happily went outside the Moulin Rouge with Audrey, as if he just met a celebrity. He went outside and talked pleasantly to Audrey, although, the tone in the woman's voice didn't sound good – it sounded angry. Poor Victor was left wondering about what he did wrong.

"You bastard! You always ruin everything for me! You're always showing up when I don't want you too… you ruined my life!" Audrey yelled at Victor with as much emotion as an actor on stage reading an emotional monologue. Victor only stood in confusion.

"What did I do wrong? I thought your play was fantastic." Victor complimented, then he realized what Audrey was mad at. "Are you still mad about that one play? It wasn't that bad." Suddenly, something erupted inside of Audrey that passers-by would never forget, that being Louise and company and some departing actors.

"What… the… hell?... what do you mean it wasn't a big deal? It ruined my career forever Victor! IT RUINED MY LIFE!"

Victor then realized that Audrey wanted nothing to do with him. "You hate me. I understand, I deserve it."

"Leave the Moulin Rouge and never come back." Audrey demanded, and after that, Victor departed with tears in his eyes. "Goodbye Audrey…"

While walking home, Louise was curious about her guardian's meltdown after the play, she was no stranger to having dramatic episodes, but this had never happened before. This was a side of Audrey that Louise had never seen before, and she didn't want to explore any further.

"What was all that about?" Louise asked. Audrey hung her head in shame as they walked up the stairs to their apartment, almost crying.

"I don't want to talk about it."


	6. Love letter

A few days had passed and the Moulin Rouge was busier than ever. Audrey was sitting at one of the tables, taking notes for the next play. Suddenly, Toulouse came up to her. "Are you okay, you don't look happy." Of course she wasn't happy, who could get over making a fool of herself in front of lots of important people? Audrey couldn't, the night of the play would probably haunt her for the rest of her life. The worst thing was that she wasn't setting a good example for Louise, teaching her that it's okay to throw a tantrum when things don't turn out the way you want them to.

"No Toulouse. The night of the play is still bothering me. Louise saw everything and I hurt lots of people. I need time to get over it. " Audrey lamented.

"Well, I'll leave you alone then." Toulouse said "I hope you feel better."

Meanwhile, the streets of Montmartre were vast and crowded, horse-drawn carriages were having a hard time getting through traffic and it made sightseeing for a certain young immigrant hard to enjoy.

"So it's the Moulin Rouge that you want to go to, is that correct?" The carriage driver asked the young man.

"Yes sir. I need to go there to see my long-lost friend." He said.

"Will do. I hope your friend is happy to see you." The driver retorted.

The carriage arrived at the Moulin Rouge and the man slowly came out. It was Victor Sauveterre, once again. He paid the carriage driver a fair amount of money which amounted to 3,000 Euros. "Thank you for your hospitality!"

He walked into the Moulin Rouge and looked around, no one seemed to know he was there until he saw Toulouse and company. He went over to ask them for help. "Excuse me! I'll be needing your help. Do you know where I can find Audrey?" They stood in confusion, they remembered Audrey telling them to remove a man with a feather top hat from the bordello and this man standing before them fit the description.

"We'll be right with you." Satie said, they looked upon Victor and his top hat – he was the one that Audrey wanted removed.

"Isn't this the man who Audrey doesn't want in here?" Satie asked Toulouse, who was the one that Audrey counted on to remove any suspicious people. The rest of the group relied on him to know which man was innocent or guilty.

"He said to remove a man with a feather top hat, I think that's him!" Toulouse replied.

They started to grab him and violently push him around. "Go away! We don't want your kind in here!"

Victor lay on the ground, shaking in every limb. "Please, if you let me explain, you'll understand why I came here." He was still carrying his bag with him. He reached into the bag and pulled out a box of chocolate which had a note attached to it. "I meant to give this to Audrey during the night of the play, but she told me to leave. Why does she do that?" Victor asked solemnly.

The Bohemians looked upon Victor, maybe they were wrong about him, he didn't do anything wrong, if wrong meant giving Audrey presents. They helped him off of the floor and sat him down in one of the many chairs. They soon apologized for the earlier incident and let Victor explain himself.

"I came here to see Audrey because I haven't seen him in years. We were friends ever since childhood and we'd write plays together... he's really changed a lot! I was shocked when I saw him. So he's a girl now?" Satie interrupted Victor at this part of the story.

"You _wrote_ together? But she never writes with anybody, you must have paid her a fortune!" But Victor did not pay her a lot of money, nor wealth. "That was when Audrey was more trusting, the Audrey that you see now is forever scarred by the likes of theatre!" The Bohemians started to get the idea that Victor might have been a lunatic.

"How can you be scarred by theatre?" The Doctor asked.

"_She_ was at first very interested in it, as was I, she enjoyed it as a hobby, but later on it overtook her life, it _is_ her life, it's _all_ she has!"

At this point, Victor was making the group very uncomfortable. "I'm sorry, but we're going to have to ask you to leave. You can come back anytime, but please stop talking badly of our friend." Toulouse said.

"If you don't have any real evidence, don't say anything at all!" The Doctor retorted.

Victor felt terrible and apologized, he didn't mean to make people uncomfortable, but at the same time he felt insulted.

"No evidence? How dare you? I have all the evidence I need, I'll show you when I get another chance!" After that, the group attempted to remove him from the bordello.

"Listen, what I'm trying to say is – I came to tell him I love him... sorry, this will take some getting used to." Victor said, laughing a bit.

"I want to go out some time, unfortunately she might never listen to me because I'm me! The horrible Victor Sauveterre, who single-handedly ruined her life, somehow. Can one of you tell her for me? I just want to be friends again."

The Bohemians couldn't believe what they were hearing, Audrey had never been in love before and finally, someone wanted to spend time with him. But they couldn't help but be suspicious. The group believed that love could conquer all obstacles, all forms of love were accepted and not ostracized. They felt happy for Victor and assured him that he would be okay. He seemed like a nice person and would be very useful to the Moulin Rouge, after all, Ziddler said he was a playwright, which is what the place needed more of to improve its' shows.

"Well, nice meeting you friend. We'll tell Audrey how you feel, let's hope she doesn't yell at us!" The Argentinean exclaimed.

Victor departed and the group went to Audrey's table, bursting with excitement and fear. "Audrey, we have some news for you." Satie said. "Victor, was here and –" Before he could finish his sentence, Audrey started belting out words of hate towards the poor man. "Did you make sure he never comes back here again? What a bastard! Kill him!"

"Well, he wants to rekindle his 'relationship' with you. He gave you this lovely box of chocolates during the night of the play. Oh, I bet you feel stupid now, for yelling at him!" Satie teased.

Audrey examined the chocolates carefully and read the note attached to it.

_Dear Audrey,_

I know that we've been through some tough times, but I want to forget all about that and move on. Please accept these chocolates as an apology gift from me. I also want you to know that I would do anything for you and support you no matter what. Keep up your amazing writing!

J'taime…

- Victor.

"This is garbage! He's lying! Can't you tell it's an April Fools joke?" Audrey shouted.

"It's February." The Argentinean replied before falling asleep on the floor.

"Okay. Now that I've seen his letter, send him a dead rat in return. Write a note that says – I hope you die, here's a dead rat for you." Audrey was plotting something mean-spirited, something his friends couldn't take.

"Audrey, this is ridiculous. If he wants to be your partner again, then you should accept it. Forgive him." Toulouse urged, but Audrey simply refused, he could never forgive Victor, not even if someone paid him all the money in the world.

"I won't!" Audrey screamed. While the rest of the group were as scared as children who saw ghosts for the first time, Toulouse stayed calm about the situation, speaking the words that no Bohemian wants to hear.

"Well, I guess that's it then. You won't forgive the one who wants to love you, you don't believe in love anymore, therefore you aren't a true Bohemian. I guess we'll have to find a new friend, someone who cares. Goodbye."

Audrey watched as her friends, one by one left her and went to another section of the Moulin Rouge. It was a little depressing to see her friends leave her, but Audrey shrugged it off quickly.

"Whatever, I don't need them anyway. I'm too good for those idiots." Audrey muttered to herself.


	7. Insecurity and drunken slumbers

It was getting late and cutting close towards Moulin Rouge's closing time. Audrey wandered back to her apartment, still flaming with anger. As she burst through the door, Louise who was busy reading a book, jumped in fear. She felt that she should do something to cheer him up.

"Uh-oh. Somebody had a bad day at work, didn't she? Yes?"

Louise always tried to make Audrey smile just by being herself, but sadly it never worked. She was a witty person and liked to joke around, but jokes weren't good enough for Audrey.

"Shut up! That's enough with that attitude of yours. Where's the Absinthe?"

"It's in the trunk in your room, just like it always is."

"Thank you Louise, now I would appreciate it if you would leave me alone for the night."

Louise went to her bedroom, she'd never felt so depressed in her life. It seemed like Audrey wanted nothing to do with her. Louise sobbed heavily into her pillow, was she not good enough? Audrey really wanted her interested in theatre and to become a playwright, but she had defied her so many times.

_"No I must dance!"_

Her defiance must have caught up to her, Audrey didn't like her anymore because they wanted to do different things. "I deserve all of this! No one wants to hang out with a spoiled brat like me!" Louise sobbed. She tried to get over this, but there were too many pictures of her and Audrey, even some dating back to when she was five. They had been through a lot together and she couldn't fathom that she wouldn't want anything to do with her. She took one of her favorite pictures, a picture of Audrey and her Bohemian friends, Satine and Zidler and most importantly - her at the age of six. They were pictured in front of the Moulin Rouge. She put the picture in her pocket and escaped home through her bedroom window, hoping never to return again.

In her own room, Audrey was drinking heavily, she drank two bottles of Absinthe and that still wasn't enough for her, she could feel the bad memories of Victor, her friends, and work melting away with each bottle, slowly, but surely. She was starting to get tired after the third bottle, so she crashed into a drunken slumber, hoping that Louise wouldn't find her and be disappointed with what she did.

* * *

Louise was only away from home for one night. She came home and found the apartment empty. She looked around for Audrey and found her sleeping in her room. "Are you awake?" Louise asked, whispering in her ear. She thought it would be a good idea to not bother her and let her sleep. Louise closed Audrey's door and made her trek to school. Career day was finally here and most of the kids in her class were there with their parents. Geneviéve noticed that Louise didn't bring Satine like she promised.

"So I see that you chickened out. It was probably for the better. If you brought Satine you would have got in trouble." Louise had a smirk on her face.

"Don't worry, I have something else up my sleeve."

The twins were there with their parents - their father, a painter and their mother, a gifted seamstress. Daniel didn't bring his mother because she was recovering from a throat injury. The teacher was holding her attendance sheet. Two other children had presented already. "Louise Delacroix?" Her moment was finally coming. "My presentation is a little weird." Louise said. She went to one of the classroom's windows and unlocked it. Satine appeared wearing a revealing outfit, her sparkly corset to be specific.

"Bonjour."

Satine strutted into the classroom, all eyes were on her; particularly the men's eyes. The women were shocked and appalled. "Ladies and Gentlemen. I present to you my big sister figure - Satine 'The Sparkling Diamond'!" Louise presented her project as if she were in a play.

"She sings, dances, and is the highest paid courtesan at the Moulin Rouge! I look up to her and want to be just like her someday. I'm going to be a star!" Satine smiled at that.

Louise thought her presentation went well, but her teacher called her out on it. "We told you you'd get in trouble." Daniel said.

"Good luck. You made a noble effort. It was my favorite presentation to! All the others were boring." Louise sat in the chair of shame, the teacher looking down on her.

"You just can't bring someone from the Moulin Rouge to school. It's not a good influence on girls your age." She said.

"Maybe for some girls, but I've made up my mind. I want to dance and live my life doing that... at the Moulin Rouge. I'm around it every day, it's not as bad as people make it out to be." She spent a half hour in that classroom being shot down by her teacher, a part of the major population. Louise however would always be a creature of the underworld. Daniel was waiting for her outside of the room.

"How did it go?" Louise looked at him solemnly.

"She just wanted to make fun of me. She said that I was brought up in a place adorned by lust. Whatever that means, I don't care. She doesn't know the real Moulin Rouge, we have feelings you know." Daniel nodded at that.

"You showed her Louise." They walked home, never speaking of their teacher again.

* * *

**AN: I decided to expand this chapter because it sucked so much, in my opinion. The part where Louise presents Satine to her class was sort of inspired by that scene from Milk Money where V is being presented to the class. I know it's a bad movie, but it was a good reference.  
**


	8. Audrey's flashback part 1

_Montmartre, France - Circa 1874_

"Why can't we do what I want to do?"

"Because it's silly and everyone will make fun of you for it!"

A classic conversation between two siblings had ensued. A nine year old boy was arguing with his older sister - Helené about what to do for his father's party. He really wanted to jump out of the cake dressed in a feather boa and one of Helené's dresses, but his family rejected the idea.

"It'll make your father look bad sweetheart." Mrs. Delacroix said.

"But it was going to be funny!"

Before she was known as Audrey, she went by the name 'Arthur'. She was the only boy in her family out of five girls. When Arthur was a young boy he loved to dress up in his mother's clothes. One day, he came into the family room, while his father was holding an important business meeting wearing a dress of his mother's and even wore some of her makeup.

"Son! What the hell do you have on!" Mr. Delacroix exclaimed.

"Mommy's dress."

"And your face…"

"There was an ugly vampire outside and I ate him!" Anyone with eyes could clearly tell that it was lipstick, but the men involved with Mr. Delacroix's meeting were laughing their heads off.

"Your son is a riot!"

"Where can I get one like that!"

"You couldn't buy entertainment this good!"

After ordering the men out of his mansion, Mr. Delacroix had to have a firm talk with his son. "Listen, it isn't normal to behave this way and you are attracting a lot of attention. I know that may sound exciting but not all attention is good attention."

Little Audrey didn't understand what he meant by that. He was just being himself and there was nothing wrong with that. "Am I not good enough? How come girls get to play dress up and I can't?" he asked. Mr. Delacroix explained himself more.

"You are amazing. All I ask of you is to do more things that boys do because boys don't normally wear their mother's dresses and makeup unless they're forced to!"

After their talk, Audrey's father forced him to do manual labor. "Don't we have people for that?" Audrey asked.

"I gave them the week off so you could learn how to act like a boy. Get to work, that lawn needs fixing and those weeds have to go!"

Audrey found the work boring, but he didn't want to disappoint his dad, so he worked hard every day to his chagrin. Meanwhile, Mr. Delacroix went to talk with his wife. He was proud of how he was handling Audrey, but there was something missing.

"Something must be happening to cause him to feel this way. What's wrong with him?"

"Well honey" Mrs. Delacroix said "I think he's just trying to express his feelings, all children are different in how they express themselves you know. I don't think he's being serious."

"I hope not, I don't want a fruit for a son, not in my house!" He paused for a moment "He sure _loves,_ your dresses." The man said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"Just give him time, he's only a child, he probably doesn't fully understand a woman yet, he'll grow up."

As summer ended, school started and Arthur was getting ready for his first day of school, which he was nervous about, so much so that he went to his sister Élisabeth for help. Out of all the five sisters, counting Helené, Imogene, Rose, and Mabelle, Élisabeth was the most supportive and wasn't deterred by Audrey's actions at all.

"Lissy?" Arthur peeped through Élisabeth's bedroom door. She was braiding Mabelle's hair, which excited him. He loved to braid his sisters' hair when his father wasn't around because he would consider the action 'not normal'. He rushed into the room like a speeding bull.

"Hey you." Élisabeth responded "do you need help with something?"

"School is starting and I need your help—"

"Oh Arthur, you always do this when school starts. You'll be just fine! Just think about the positive things that can happen. Alright Mabelle, it's finally done!" She said putting a hair tie in Mabelle's hair.

Mabelle looked into the vanity mirror, her fishtail braid looked fantastic. "Thank you so much, and Arthur is going to do well in school, just like last year, and, the year before that. He's just going to hog all of Mom's attention again." Mabelle talked down to him in a sarcastic, yet menacing way.

_"He has such good grades! Look at him, he can sew! I think he takes after me!"_

"That's enough Mabelle!" Élisabeth intervened.

"Whatever, I'm only being honest and don't you forget it! Thanks for the fishtail."

"Why do they call it a fishtail if it doesn't have to do with fish?" Little Arthur asked his sister curiously.

"Well, back in ancient times girls would do their hair to look like fishtails and the more tails you had, the richer you were." Mabelle explained "so I'm wearing a fish on my head!"

Mabelle could be snarky at times, but she always knew how to make people laugh. The boy was laughing so hard his face was as red as a tomato, he couldn't stop thinking about girls wearing big fish on their heads for days.

During his first day of school, it was rough, but over time Arthur became accustomed to rough places. Some of the boys were throwing rocks around and even at each other. They would do lots of risky things to show the other kids that they were tough and untouchable. They weren't older than Arthur, they were probably the same age, but he couldn't imagine why boys would throw rocks at each other for fun. He found it barbaric.

"Hey kid!" One of the boys shouted "come play with us, throw a rock or two around, maybe you'll hit somebody!"

Arthur was always taught that he should always act like himself, so he politely declined. "No thank you, I would rather not. Why would anyone throw rocks around for fun anyway?"

"What are you rich or something?" Another boy said.

The little boy hailed from one of the wealthiest and most powerful families in all of France, not just Montmartre. Nobody could stop his father apart from a few rivals, but aside from that Audrey longed for a normal childhood, but living in a life of luxury made it difficult.

"Pansy! Don't even think about hanging with us! Rich people belong in private schools!"

For the rest of recess, Arthur would sit alone and watch the other children play with their friends. He never really fit in that much, the children his age thought he was too different and didn't bother with him, but he didn't mind, he liked being alone. Suddenly, a shadow was walking towards him. At first little Arthur ran away from the shadow, but as it came closer he found it intriguing. The shadow finally came to a full stop in front of him.

"Hi! My name is Victor Sauveterre. What's yours?"


	9. Audrey's flashback part 2

The boy seemed so welcoming, unlike most of the boys Arthur met. He had never known such welcoming words. This boy actually wanted to play with him, not push him around. For once he would have a true friend instead of being called a cheesy surrender monkey by the other boys he came across. "Do you want to toss this ball around?" Victor asked, Arthur still didn't introduce himself.

"I'm Arthur Delacroix. It's nice to meet you Victor."

"You too! I noticed you sitting here by yourself, I don't like it when people are lonely. I love to make people smile!"

The boys went far away from the other children and played in some nearby woods. They tossed Victor's ball around and talked more about themselves. "You talk funny." Arthur said. "Where are you from?"

"I moved here from Québec, Canada."

"You moved from all that way? I lived in Montmartre my whole life, I've never been anywhere else."

Arthur always wanted to go to other parts of France or even another country, but his parents thought that he wouldn't get used to it. He was known to have anxiety attacks in unfamiliar places, totally unlike the person he became as an adult.

Victor's parents were farmers who were lacking money in their homeland of Québec, they heard that the Bohemian Revolution was going on and thought that they could make more money in France. They were still poor, but made much more money than they did in Canada. In France, they worked on the street and sold all kinds of fruits and vegetables to the locals. They lived in a small, one story, dilapidated house near Montmartre.

"That's how my parents make their money. We don't have much, but we're happy to work." Victor preached. Arther didn't bother telling Victor what his parents did for a living.

"When I grow up, I want to become a playwright. My father doesn't want me to become one though, he thinks that playwrights aren't tough like business men are. He wants me to follow him or I won't succeed in the world." Arthur seemed like he was going to break into tears. Even though Victor was poor, he had a pure heart and could feel sorry for someone as well-off as Arthur.

"What does he know?" Victor said "You're probably very talented! I love writing too. All I want to make my parents proud of me and make money to support them."

"Do you want to write together?"

At that moment, Arthur and Victor met at the same place in the woods to write plays together for the next eleven years.

* * *

_(Montmartre, France – Circa 1884)_

For eleven years, Arthur and Victor had worked hard to achieve fame. They were much younger and Arthur didn't yet wear makeup or strive to look like a woman yet, which is what he would become famous for. At the time he was relatively normal looking and blended in with everyone apart from having long black hair that reached the middle of his back. He liked to stand out and shine and that trait made it happen, he even went as far as wearing a big red hat every day. To promote their plays, Arthur and Victor would stand in the streets and read the scripts that they wrote, sometimes all night.

The duo was casually reading their lines, until one day, while reading the locals their plays, a rotund-looking man came up to them. "You boys are very talented! My name is Harold Zidler, owner of the Moulin Rouge. How would you like me to pull you two out of these wretched streets and work at my wonderful cabaret?"

The duo was in complete shock, a job at the Moulin Rouge was every playwright's dream and they were good enough that they were offered positions! Was this a dream?

"Of course Monsieur!" Arthur accepted the job with glee, Victor was more laid back about the offer.

"Oh wow, this is great, right?" However they felt about it, they both vowed to work hard.

Working at the Moulin Rouge was everything that the boys expected. Pretty girls were _everywhere_ and they were very welcoming to them, it was all so unusual.

"Alright boys! Your job is to write scripts for the shows that happen around here. We are always looking for fresh ideas!" Zidler stormed into the room like a lightning bolt, you could tell that he was stressing out.

"What would you like us to do?" Victor asked.

"We have a show coming up, you can watch the show tonight to see what we expect of you two."

A wave of confusion had struck the boys. As much as they wrote plays, they had never been to any before. Victor was the most confused but Arthur had been to a few operas and some plays, but his father stopped taking him because he feared that it would make him less tough. Mr. Delacroix thought that art was unnecessary to the world, money was all that mattered.

"We will be there!" Arthur promised.

* * *

The two arrived at the play dressed in their finest clothes. They sat with Harold in the front row. The show was magnificent, simply breathtaking, packed with out-of-this-world dance routines and dialogue that would leave you stunned, simply impeccable writing! Arthur and Victor wondered who was writing these plays.

"Grégoire Moreau. He's been writing for eighty years. He's going to retire tonight." Harold. said.

The extravagant play in honor of the great playwright made the man cry tears of joy. When he got on stage, you could see him crying through his glasses, forever smiling. Arthur and Victor were the new writers now and it was up to them to write as good as Monsieur Grégoire, to fulfill his great duty.

"Victor!" Arthur called "I know what we're going to do for our play!"

"What is it?"

"I think it should center around a woman who has lost her husband. She is searching for another, but her childhood friend loves her and she doesn't realize it. She goes insane and her friend supports her no matter what."

"That sounds like a good idea. Is that what Zidler has in mind?"

"He said that we should let our imagination run free!"

Weeks went by and the play was coming along nicely. Parts were already cast. Arthur got to know a can – can dancer named Nini and cast her as the woman. A performer by the name of 'Argentinean' played the childhood friend. It was Victor's idea to cast him, but Arthur had his doubts because the Argentinean kept falling asleep without warning during rehearsals. He was unaware that the man had Narcolepsy. It was the perfect casting and nothing was going to ruin this play. Or so he thought…

The costumes for the show arrived and Arthur loved looking at them. They were absolutely beautiful. "Victor? Do I look pretty in my dress?" The man came out on stage wearing a long pink dress, shocking Victor to pieces.

"What are you doing! That's for Nini to wear! Why would you ever wear a dress?"

"I love dresses! They look pretty… Do they look pretty on me?"

Victor chuckled "Thanks for making me laugh today." Victor was twirling a feather around in his hand, Arthur spotted him. "What's that?" he asked. Victor told him that it was a part of a feather dress that fell off and the costume designers decided to scrap the dress from the show. Arthur looked at the royal blue feather like a child looked at a new toy.

"If you're not using it may I look at it?"

"Sure."

* * *

Arthur showed his ideas to Harold Zidler, his devotion had seemed to catch his attention and he was soon interested in making Arthur his star playwright. "What about Victor?"

"He will do on his own. What are your ideas?"

"The female lead commits suicide when she learns that her lover has died."

"Ah, like Romeo and Juliet with a modern twist. I will be expecting a beautiful, yet dark ending my dear Arthur, all the best to you!"

Reviewing the play was a pain to go through, but it was worth it to make a lasting impression on Harold and the Moulin Rouge. "I have revised the script." Victor said. Arthur wasn't agreeing with his decision at first. "What did you do?"

"I thought that it would be better if the woman left the hospital and got help. She will later go to her friend and they will marry. It thought it would be better than the woman dying."

"No! You're throwing off the setting! If the woman doesn't die, it will ruin the dramatic ending!"

"Are you sure you don't want the revision?"

"No. You'll ruin the whole thing if you revise the script."

"Very well. I won't change it."

During the night of the play, everything was going as planned, everything but the end.

_"I went through hell and went through years of strenuous help. I'm beyond repair, there's no way you can love me now."_

"But you're my friend, I won't let you leave me! I love you Anna!"

Arthur couldn't believe his ears. What he was seeing was a monstrosity, Victor had lied to him and changed the ending. What a friend. He was in rage, his friend for eleven years had stabbed him in the back to get fame. "Why did you change the ending?" Arthur called to Victor, waving to his adoring fans. "It was better, you see. These people want a happy ending and they want to feel good about themselves."

Victor had turned away from Arthur, he cheated him for fame. It was a terrible thing to do considering the fact the Arthur had done most of the work while Victor sat around and fiddled around with the can-can dancers. Could a playwright act more unprofessional? Zidler wouldn't allow a man with a such a lackadaisical attitude to write his plays, they would only turn out lazy and Moulin Rouge would go out of business because of that man – Victor.

Harold came up to the two playwrights. "Can I speak to you two?" The two men walked into his office, Arthur being nervous and Victor expecting a standing ovation.

"Are you MAD!" Zidler yelled. Victor. You have ruined this play with your utterly moronic ending!

"Well, everyone loved it." Victor was totally confident in his ending.

"Think of writing happy endings when you aren't writing about a woman who goes insane because she can't love! You just ruined the drama!"

"What? I don't see the difference."

Audrey watched as Zidler fired Victor from his job. Before he left Arthur gave him the feather back, he didn't want to accept a gift from a friend who betrayed him.

"You can have your stupid feather back!"

Harold ordered Victor out of his office and out of the Moulin Rouge for good. "Arthur. I'm sorry that you had to deal with that. I watched as you and your friend worked on your production. You worked so hard and Victor did nothing at all. What would we do without you?"

His statement left Arthur stunned. "Really? I'm that good?"

"You are a genius."

Ever since that day, Arthur never wrote with other playwrights ever again. He trusted no one, there was only him and his wonderful writing, the writing that wooed millions of people. He was truly a genius and he believed it, sometimes too much. Over the years, Arthur reminisced on that day Victor abandoned him, he remembered the play and what the characters looked like. Nini looked beautiful in her short black hair and bangs. Crimson lips framing her face along with bright makeup. Arthur looked in the mirror and was unhappy with himself. He wanted to live as the person he always wanted to live as. – A woman. He applied some red lipstick and looked at himself carefully.

"I look beautiful! This is me!"

On that day, Audrey cut his long hair, like how Nini wore it in the play that he wrote. He wore makeup exactly like the character for his play. For the rest of his life he would look like that to remind himself of the production that he and Victor created. He would never forget that day, the day Victor betrayed him. The only way to cope was to express himself. He always dressed like the character that Victor ruined instantly.

Other than coping, he finally became the girl he always dreamed of being. His dad would never call him out on it or call him weak. The best part about being a Bohemian was that everyone loved and supported you and your decisions.

"I won't let anyone destroy my art again. No one will hurt me as long as the new me lives on."


	10. Audrey's flashback part 3

Arthur was much happier with his new look, although he had never really shown anyone but Harold, who thought it was very brave that Arthur was expressing himself. Determined, Arthur went out to go be the best woman he could be, to show the world what he looked like. He would finally live as 'Audrey'. One sunny morning as Audrey was walking through town, she was all smiles, but the passers-by were giving her funny looks, as if she was wearing a skinned wolf on her head. As she walked nearer into town a group of Bourgeois people circled around her. One woman in the circle, wearing an exaggerated pink dress and hair that could reach the sun zoomed in on Audrey and was very intimidating.

"Why on earth would you wear something like that out in public? You look ridiculous in that makeup!" As the people around her laughed and snickered, a man joined in the mocking of Audrey. "If you want to wear all of that in public, you need psychiatric help. Why haven't you been sent to a mental ward already?" Audrey was too afraid to fight back. Suddenly, a loud voice was heard from far away. It seemed as if the voice suffered from a lisp of some sort, but any kind of help would have made Audrey happy.

"You there! Leave my friend alone!"

Four men dressed in odd-looking clothes rushed to fight off the Bourgeois people. In the end, the four men won and the Bourgeois went on with their business. Audrey was shocked, who were these people? Why did they want to help her out of everyone else in the world? Those were legitimate questions that needed answering. A terribly short man walked over to Audrey, who was laying on the ground.

"Have no fear! We are here to help you, Mons… Madame? Confusion was everywhere in the troupe of men. One who was wearing a striped scarf looked more closely at the transgender woman.

"Oh shit! He's one of those people! Why didn't Harold tell us about this?" The troupe had seen pictures of Audrey from before his makeover to the present day. Zidler told them to 'look for the thing with the high-strung personality.' Pretty vague information. A bearded man joined the conversation.

"I can see why he called him a thing."

"Shh! He's...she's waking up!" The man with the scarf said. Audrey awoke to happy faces surrounding her as if she had died and went to heaven. "What happened? Am I dead?"

"No. You are alive and we're here to help you!" The short man said as he helped Audrey up from the ground. she looked around the group and recognized one of them as being the Narcoleptic Argentinean from the play the she and Victor did, but the rest of the men she had never seen before. "My name is Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa! But you can just call me Toulouse."

"Oh my goodness, that's a long name!" Audrey said.

"These are my friends – Erik Satie - he's a musical genius! The Doctor - a master of fire and explosives, and The Narcoleptic Argentinean - the best tango dancer in Montmartre!"

"I remember you." Audrey said to the Argentinean "you were in the play that my partner and I did." The Argentinean remembered that experience as one of the best performances that he had ever done. "It was a pleasure! I remember you too. You're Arthur right?" Audrey felt the need to introduce the real her to the people standing in front of her.

"I'm _Audrey_ Delacroix. Playwright." Emphasis on her new name, so they wouldn't forget.

"We noticed you around the Moulin Rouge." The Doctor said "You look a lot different from the previous pictures Harold showed us." As Audrey was explaining why she underwent such a drastic makeover, the men had a marvelous idea while listening to her story. They walked through the inner parts of town and reached the poor part of town, right near Audrey's apartment. The troupe walked up to a place in which Audrey had never seen before and what would later become her favorite place – The Bar Absinthe.

"This is where all the Bohemians hang out." Satie said. The Bohemians confused Audrey, she didn't know what a Bohemian was or what they were all about, was France really segregated into two classes? Maybe she was living under a rock, as her sister would always say. "What's a Bohemian?" Audrey asked as they walked into the Bar. The men explained to him that a Bohemian defies the Bourgeois principles of conformity and they believe in freedom, beauty, truth, and love. "I believe in all of those things! Those are the essentials of a good play." Audrey exclaimed proudly. That was the day she became one of them.

* * *

The next morning, Audrey was applying her makeup and admiring herself in the mirror, a common thing for her to do. "You look so pretty today!" Audrey said to her reflection "Now today is the big day. We are going to impress Élisabeth! She's going to love your beautiful self!" Audrey looked at herself one last time. "I'm probably the loneliest person on the planet. I wish I had someone around here to tell me that I'm fabulous! Besides myself…"

It was a lovely day over at Élisabeth's house. She now had a five-year old son and was pregnant with her second child. She couldn't be happier. Meanwhile, Audrey was living alone in her grimy apartment, the only friends she had were the Bohemians, Absinthe, and of course – Élisabeth. "I admire the fact that you're expressing yourself, I think you look awfully pretty for a man." Audrey blushed, she always loved getting compliments.

"Thank you very much."

Élisabeth and Audrey talked about their lives, how Élisabeth was dealing with pregnancy and how her son – Christopher was doing. She had a stressful life, but she always made Audrey jealous. She had always wanted to care for someone, but always thought that a child would be scared of her appearance.

"I think you should adopt a child." Élisabeth said "I know that you've taken care of my son before and I believe you are fully capable of having a child of your own." No matter what, Élisabeth was always confident in her brother, now sister's actions. However, Audrey wasn't so sure.

"Do you really think I can do it?"

"Sure. I know of this wonderful orphanage about a couple of miles from town, but it's really strict. Just let me know when you want to go." Élisabeth loved the idea of Audrey having children, but at the same time was sensitive to her situation, she didn't love women, so she couldn't procreate. She thought that adoption was the key to making her new sister happy. "You'll love it Audrey, I promise!"

* * *

_(July, 20, 1890)_

Audrey waited six years to go to the orphanage, she just didn't feel up to it, but finally, she was ready, she wasn't going to suffer alone anymore. Since talking to her sister, she had prepared for whatever the child would need, such as school. That was vital. The most important thing was to blend in with the crowd so that she could actually get in the orphanage. Audrey wore no makeup and wore a boring black coat, and tried to talk in a deeper voice. she tried to act like a Bourgeois citizen. "Okay, I'm ready to go!" Upon viewing her, Élisabeth wasn't pleased.

"Are you seriously going to go out like that?"

"Yes I am! If I wear my normal clothes, then I won't even get through the door!"

"Audrey, you don't need to go around blending in with everyone. Just talk like you talk, wear it how you wear it and people will accept you for who you are. You have your Bohemian friends don't you?" Audrey remembered the scuffle that happened six years ago.

"Forget about what those haughty people say. They can stick their noses so high, they can go into space!" Élisabeth said. "They don't know a good thing when they see it!"

The siblings pulled up to what looked like a Jewish orphanage, Audrey wearing her normal clothes and in full makeup, but wearing her big red hat to hide her face. Élisabeth was still not impressed. "Take that stupid hat off." Audrey could never deny her sister, but she would have to, a strict orphanage would look at her and throw her out immediately. As they reached the Montmartre Orphanage, children were running around playing. The two got out of Élisabeth's horse-drawn carriage and went up to the towering building. A short, heavyset woman came and greeted them.

"Welcome to my wonderful orphanage. My name is Mademoiselle Carrie. I hope you have the happiest of times and find the darling you're looking for."

"Oh, we're having a good time, very much so!" Élisabeth said. "We were looking for a child of our own." Suddenly, the wind blew Audrey's hat off. Luckily, the woman was blind, so she couldn't tell that Audrey was transgender. "Now are you two married?" Élisabeth couldn't believe what she heard. "Oh heavens no! We're sib-" Audrey pulled her to the side.

"Élisabeth! She's blind! This is my chance to get in without being judged."

"The children will probably laugh at you, you will be funny to them."

"I don't care. I'm ready." The pair turned backed to the woman.

"We're ready to look inside now," Audrey said.

"Right this way." The woman replied. As the two walked into the sullen looking building, the children formed around Audrey, they weren't making fun of her, they were worshiping her as if she was their only source of bright color in such a gloomy house.

"I told you they would love you." Élisabeth said. While Élisabeth went over to talk with the children, Audrey looked around the orphanage. As she walked down the corridors she found a little girl who caught her attention. She looked about five, big brown eyes and brown curly hair. The only colorful part of her outfit was the red bow in her hair. She was sitting all alone in her bedroom attempting to dance. Her dancing resembled awkward ballet moves and she fell down a couple of times. Audrey knocked on her door.

"Excuse me Madame. May I come in?"

The girl turned around and looked at her, she was scared out of her mind, she had never seen anyone that looked like that before mainly because the children of the orphanage never went outside, Mademoiselle Carrie never took them outside because she believed in protecting the children from the outside world.

"Who are you?" The little girl asked. She walked up to Audrey, shyly. "My name is Louise." She said. Audrey sat on a chair next to Louise.

"My name is Audrey. How do you do?" Louise looked at her for a little while.

"Are you my new mommy or daddy?"

"It would be best to call me your mommy." Audrey said.

"I hope I get adopted, I want to become a famous dancer like my mommy." Audrey and Louise talked for hours, they talked about dancing and Audrey talked about her career as a playwright. "Do you know what a playwright is?" Audrey asked Louise playfully.

"No." Louise said. This shocked Audrey, the girl had been sheltered beyond belief. "A playwright is the person who writes all the amazing plays that are out there. They are also responsible for writing scripts for dancers to follow. So if you become a famous dancer a playwright will write-up a story that goes with the dance. People like to see that you know." Louise's eyes widened as Audrey explained her profession; she was so excited she could explode.

"Audrey? Where are you?"

A voice was heard from down the halls, Élisabeth walked into the room and found Audrey and Louise. "Oh, now who is this little darling?" Élisabeth asked. Audrey was eager to present Louise to her sister. She had formed a bond of some sort with her. "This is Louise." Audrey said. After much talking and discussing, the pair went over to Mademoiselle Carrie to find out more about Louise.

"She never knew her parents. When she was about a year old her parents were on their way to a concert and they got into a carriage accident. A young couple found her on the side of the road and brought her here. I asked them why they couldn't take her in and they said that they didn't want children, they just wanted to do a good deed." Mademoiselle Carrie said to the two siblings. She walked over to a file cabinet to put Louise's information away. Audrey and Élisabeth looked at her in awe.

"Well, after talking to all the other children here, I've found that none of them fit my preference. They were extremely rude to me and had no manners whatsoever!" Élisabeth complained. Mademoiselle Carrie smiled approvingly.

"Well, we are still working on manners, but with Louise you can't really tell if she's learning. She doesn't talk all that much." Audrey got bored with the women's talking and went back to Louise's room to talk to her. She didn't care if she was a woman now, she didn't have to talk to anyone if she didn't want to. Despite Élisabeth's constant encouragement, saying 'you'll open up', Audrey didn't feel like talking to them. She wanted to talk to Louise. After many hours of talking, the women walked into the room.

"There you are." Mademoiselle Carrie said "You're quite the wanderer, yes you are." Audrey looked up at the two women, having made her decision. "I'll take her. I'm going to make her the best dancer in all of Montmartre." After that, Louise would become Audrey's daughter.

* * *

Audrey took care of Louise and loved her with all her heart. She took her to the Moulin Rouge and showed her the wonders of theatre. She met everyone there, including Satine, who had just started working there three years ago, Zidler, Môme Fromage, China Doll, Arabia, and Nini legs-in-the-air who she nicknamed "Nini the Meany". Louise loved theatre and tried her best to become a dancer like her mother, but school was one of the hardest thing for her. Louise went to a primary school outside of Montmartre and with a bunch of rich kids too, the Bourgeois children. Like her adoptive mother, children made fun of Louise and she had no friends. She always wore ratty dresses to school because Audrey couldn't afford much and Louise would always see Bourgeois girls in their pretty dresses. She felt sad and jealous at the same time. One day at recess, Louise was drawing a picture of Harold and Satine as three Bourgeois kids came up to her and ripped it in half.

"Hey, that was my picture!" Louise screamed. The kids looked down on her.

"Why should you care? It was terrible anyway." A little girl retorted "Who taught you how to draw people?"

"Yeah!" The boy of the group said "You shouldn't draw the wonderful Satine like that! If she saw your stupid drawing, she would look down on you forever. You're just a Bohemian anyway." He sounded like he had a crush on her, as most boys did. In reality, Satine loved and cared for Louise and would have loved her drawing no matter how juvenile it looked. Satine loved everything Louise did. Louise knew this and she felt the need to stick up for herself.

"You know nothing about the Moulin Rouge, stupid! My mommy works for them and Satine is very not what you make her out to be. She's very nice and won't waste her time on young boys, you aren't manly enough!" Feeling mildly threatened by Louise's comments, the bullies stuck back at her.

"Your mom? Are you talking about that weird man in makeup that my mommy and daddy tell me to avoid every day?" The second little girl said haughtily. Her friends snickered.

"Satine has no use for ugly Bohemians!" The boy said "She's too good to talk to trash like you, you're just an audience member." As the children taunted her, three kids in ratty clothes appeared from behind a wall. They appeared to look like Bohemians as well and saw Louise's torment, much like what happened to her adoptive mother many years ago. They children consisted of twin girls who could only be told apart by the different color ribbons in their hair. One wore a white ribbon and the other wore a yellow ribbon. The other child was a boy who looked dirty and had unkempt hair. - Geneviéve, Renée, and Daniel.

"Leave her alone!" The twins said in unison.

"Who's going to make us? You?" The first girl asked the twins.

"No, but we'll tell the teacher that you've bullied Bohemian children again and then you'll be forced to do extra homework." The boy said. After that, the bullies ran away. Louise couldn't be more thankful for their help. "Thank you so much! I would have been dead if it wasn't for you guys!" Ever since that day, the four were the best of friends and Louise's heroes would eventually fall victim to her misadventures at the Moulin Rouge, having never been there before, only hearing about it in newspapers.

"So is it true that your mommy knows Satine?"

"Yeah!"

* * *

Audrey awoke from her drunken slumber. It was late in the afternoon and Louise was nowhere in sight. "Louise!" She was frantically searching around the apartment for her, struggling not to throw up. She didn't make it though, having made it to her room and doing business there. Suddenly, a noise was heard at the door, it was Louise and Daniel. Audrey stumbled over to them, failing at trying to hide how drunk she was. She had trouble talking as a result of too much Absinthe.

"Where were you young lady!" Audrey said with slurred speech. Louise wasn't an idiot, she could tell when Audrey was drunk. She had seen it a million times before ever since the age of five.

"We were at school. I tried to wake you up but you wouldn't budge. You must have been asleep for two days! I didn't want to disturb you so I walked to school. Career day was today, but I got in trouble and the teacher insulted me. Who does she think she is? I-" She saw Audrey fall to the ground. Louise and Daniel struggled to help her up.

"You should go back to bed." Louise said like a caring mother. "If you were wondering where I was that other night, I went to Daniel's house to talk about some problems I was having. I thought you were mad and wanted nothing to do with me and I started crying and feeling bad for myself, but I guess it was a misunderstanding."

It relieved Audrey that she explained where she went, she didn't want to lose sight of her. she waddled back to her bedroom, pondering the thought of her sleeping for two days.

"Did I miss work Louise?" She asked.

"I'm not sure." Louise said tucking him into bed. "I don't know you, I don't know your life." She said sarcastically. She held his hand and kissed his forehead.

"Goodnight…Mom."

Louise and Daniel walked the streets of Montmartre, still thinking about how they could get revenge on their teacher, but at the same time they were worrying about Audrey.

"Do you think she'll be alright?" Daniel asked. Louise turned her head to him.

"I hope so. She's been talking about writing another play. I hope that goes over well."


	11. Spectacular, Spectacular

After a few slow days of recovering, Audrey was ready to get back work. She had worked on a new play for the Moulin Rouge entitled 'Spectacular, Spectacular'. It took place in Switzerland and it was about a nun who falls in love with a goat herder. It was going to be a work of Bohemian genius. Louise was getting ready to go to school as Audrey was packing her bag so she could go to Toulouse's apartment.

"You run off now, I have to get everyone to rehearse for the new play."

"Are you sure you don't need me? I can always skip school and help out with the rehearsals."

"No my love, successful people don't miss a thing. You will go to school, see all of your friends and work hard. I'll be fine."

When Audrey arrived at Toulouse's apartment her friends were already rehearsing. Satie was getting the piano ready, The Doctor testing the explosions, and The Argentinean was rehearsing his part. "There you are!" said Toulouse, we were waiting for you.

"Fashionably late as usual!" Audrey said.

As the troupe rehearsed the play, The Argentinean fell asleep and fell from one of the props that held him high in the air, right through the floor. The Argentinean was in a deep sleep and the Bohemians could tell how long he was out of it. He would be asleep for at least a day, that threatened their chances of finishing the performance. The Bohemians were scrambling around the room worrying for their friend's safety. "Toulouse! Go downstairs and see if he's okay!"

Toulouse ran as fast as his little legs could carry him. He saw the room with the hole and didn't bother knocking before entering, he always managed to make a big entrance.

"How do you do? My name is Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa! I'm terribly sorry about all this, we were rehearsing a play."

The man living there seemed like he was a writer, he was working at a typewriter when the Argentinean fell through his home. The man was covered in ink, but only slightly. He was confused about the incident, wondering if this was a dream. "What?" he asked Toulouse currently dressed as a nun.

"May I ask why you are dressed like that?" he had a very polite voice, suggesting that he was from England.

"It's set in Switzerland!" Toulouse replied. The writer introduced himself as Christian. He came from England to pursue writing and to get away from his oppressive Father. Christian glanced over at the Argentinean, who was still dangling in the air, fast asleep. "What's wrong with him?" Christian asked.

"He has narcolepsy." Toulouse said. "Perfectly fine one moment and suddenly unconscious the next." He imitated snoring in a hilarious way that made Christian smile. He knew he was going to like Toulouse, but he didn't know that there were more like him right above his head that seemed to contrast with each other.

"How is he?" The Bohemians looked down from the giant hole. Christian looked up at the trio looking down at him. He was still wondering what they were doing to make one of their performers fall through his floor. "How wonderful, the narcoleptic Argentinean is now unconscious and therefore the scenario will not be finished in time to present to the financier tomorrow!" Audrey was freaking out as she always did when something went wrong. Things had to be perfect for her. Things weren't much better for Satie, who was calmer about the situation.

"He's right Toulouse. I still have to finish the music." Audrey looked at Satie, frowning. She didn't like it when people referred to her as a male. She was long past that and was a new person. She felt that people should have been more understanding of that.

"We'll just find someone to read the part." Toulouse said with a wide grin.

"Where in heaven's name are we going to find someone to read the role of the young, sensitive, Swiss poet, goat herder?" Audrey said calming down a bit. She was missing Louise now. She would have been perfect for that part. The only person around was Christian. Before he knew it he was standing in for the narcoleptic Argentinean.

They went upstairs to Toulouse's apartment to rehearse. Rehearsals were not going well. The troupe was on the part where the nun sings her song, this song was the biggest dilemma that they had because they couldn't find the right lyrics.

"Stop, stop, stop, stop that insufferable droning! It's drowning out my words. Can we please just stick to a little decorative piano?" There were stylistic differences between Audrey's lyrics and Satie's songs. The dilemma grew even bigger when the troupe had trouble reworking the lyrics.

"…a nun wouldn't say that about a hill…"

"…he should sing the hills are vital intoning the descent…"

"…the hills are incarnate with symphonic melodies!"

"…the hills…"

"…the hills…"

"…the hills!"

As the troupe was fighting Christian took their idea and made his own. The hills have a form of music to them… how could he make that into a song. He pondered it for a few minutes and finally came up with something.

"The hills are alive with the sound of music!"

The Bohemians admired the idea and thought that Christian would be of great use to them. He had a talent for writing and it was remarkable that he could come up with lyrics in five minutes. "Audrey. You and Christian should write the play together!" Toulouse suggested forgetting that Audrey still had major trust issues after what happened with Victor. "I beg your pardon?" Audrey said, getting offended. Audrey could be a drama queen, even a bigger one than Satine, but today she seemed like he was going to try to hurt somebody. She didn't like working with others and she would let her friends know it.

"You all know that I don't like working with people! Victor ruined my life, this man will do the same." The Bohemians looked at her, very confused.

"Christian won't hurt anybody." Toulouse said "You two would get along great." Audrey didn't think so.

"No! I won't do it. I write with me and only me! Everyone that I work with betrays me." The Bohemians were even more confused. "But you're working with us aren't you? We haven't left you yet." Toulouse said "Come on Audrey stop being dramatic for once. This was the last straw for her.

"I've had it with all of you. I thought you were my friends but you always make fun of me! I know I'm dramatic and proud of it! I'm leaving, now you can ogle over the writer who is not even in the same league as me. I've had enough of your ridiculous fantasies Toulouse. Goodbye!" Audrey stormed out the door and never returned again.

Walking down the street wasn't fun. Audrey was too angry to walk without wanting to punch everything that she saw. She almost punched a man in the face, which would have been bad but she would be the tough woman who her friends thought she wasn't. She was almost to the Bar Absinthe when she suddenly bumped into someone. It was such a hard bump that Audrey fell down as did the other person. "I'm so sorry, are you okay?" Audrey tried to tend to the person's wounds, but unfortunately the man he bumped into was none other than Victor.

"What are you doing here?!" Audrey shouted. Victor was cowering in fear.

"I'm sorry Audrey. I didn't expect to see you here. How are you?"

"Don't even talk to me." That was the day where Victor set Audrey straight.

"Come on now, it was only an accident. Why are you still mad at me? Let me help you, you look like you've had a rough day." After a lot of fighting and resisting Audrey finally let Victor in.

"Fine. I was writing a wonderful play, but my friends found this new writer out of nowhere and they replace me, saying that he's a Bohemian genius. Then Toulouse told me to stop being so dramatic, how dare he!" Audrey was starting to sound more like a girl at this point.

"Listen to me." Victor said "That must have hurt, being betrayed by your friends, but I will never leave you. Now I know you are kind of skeptical about me because of that play, but I was young and I had no idea what I was doing! You're better than me at everything and you should believe that." Audrey was happy to see that Victor was moving on from the incident. Maybe he should too.

"Thank you Victor."

"Want to write a play together? We'll show those Bohemians whose boss!"

"I don't feel like writing. I think we should spend time together, catch up on things, you know?"

Victor loved that idea and soon enough the two had been all over the city in four hours avoiding the Moulin Rouge and going to places France classified as 'decent'. "I had a lot of fun today Victor." Audrey said. Victor smiled, happy to have his childhood friend back. It was nighttime now and the two were standing on a bridge located over the Seine River, looking at their city that was beautifully lit at night.

"The Eiffel Tower looks pretty at night." Victor said. Being French-Canadian he has always dreamed of seeing the monument up close. As a child he read about it in books. Now he was there standing with Audrey, who scoffed at his remark.

"It always looks like that." Audrey said forgetting that Victor was still trying to get his own apartment. Live on his own and try to get away from his parents, who still lived in that ramshackle hut near the city.

"Are your parents here with you?" Audrey asked.

"Yes. They have made some money from work and I still have to save up enough to get my own apartment. It's a long process and it might take years."

"You could live at my place, there's plenty of room." Victor beamed at the idea and he was happy to finally live somewhere, to finally be among the Parisians. Victor gave Audrey a big hug and was struggling to let go.

"Thank you so much. Now, at last we'll be together. I'm so glad that we're friends again!" Audrey smiled.

"Me too."


	12. The transformation of the Moulin Rouge

Louise and her friends were bored as hell. It was the weekend and they had spent their morning hanging out in the streets doing nothing but walking around, kicking empty Absinthe bottles, and sitting around near abandoned buildings. "This is lame." Daniel said "Let's go to the Moulin Rouge, they always have something interesting." The group walked to the place, running and snickering all the way there. A huge crowd was gathering and preparing to sit down, as if they were the audience instead of the performers. Satine greeted them as they came closer to the aisles.

"Hello! What are you kids doing here?" She said running to them.

"We're bored. We wanted to hang out here for a while. Why is everyone sitting in these chairs? Aren't they supposed to be performing?" Louise asked.

"I have no idea, but I have big news for you." Louise's friends had wandered off and found chairs of their own to sit in. "Do you remember the Duke?" Upon hearing the man's name Louise's body went numb.

"Yes I do."

"He's investing our new play; he's going to make me famous, a real actress!"

As a child, Louise had always admired the Duke. He would always come to the cabaret to invest Audrey's productions, he was a faithful person and a great asset to the Moulin Rouge; Zidler loved him, that was the main thing. Louise always got excited when he came to the place because he would always make her laugh, for her birthday he would always bring her the finest presents, the most élite things a kid could ask for, the only expensive items she would ever own in her life. Louise saw the Duke as her friend and she trusted him. However, when she was ten, she had witnessed the Duke do something that would make her hate him forever.

It was a slow, rainy day and Louise had nothing to do. She had been tired from practicing her dancing and she walked around the Moulin Rouge's quarters. She heard noises coming from Zidler's office and decided to peek inside. The Duke was arguing with another man about adult things that Louise couldn't understand.

"It's all your fault that we lost that money. I'm going to be in debt for weeks now!"

"I couldn't stop it. It was so enticing. We all need breaks from work don't we?"

"Yes, but you didn't need to spend 1 million Euros on a cruise to Mexico! How am I going to pay for all of this? I should have never trusted you with my money!"

They seemed to argue for at least twenty minutes when finally the Duke finally made up his mind. "I can't deal with you anymore." He whispered words to his manservant Warner – words that Louise could not identify. Warner got up from his chair and shot the man dead right before Louise's eyes. Ever since that day Louise had been forever traumatized. She knew that the man had spent the Duke's money, but she knew that he was just starting to work for him and didn't know of his vicious ways. In fact, she had talked to him before. He was really nice and was known to have a problem with spending large amounts of money.

"What's that?"

"Oh, it's a Russian snow globe. If you look closely you can see the little girls catching the snow."

"That must have cost loads."

"Indeed it did, and I'm proud of it!" Little did he know that his big spending problem would get him killed.

Louise learned that it was best to act polite so she told Satine that it was great that she was going to become famous, they continued their conversation, they laughed and eventually Zidler arrived and told everyone to take a seat. Louise sat with her friends and squirmed with curiosity.

"Performers of the great and powerful Moulin Rouge, may I have your attention please?" Zidler's voice was booming throughout the bordello "after much discussion with our wonderful investor the Duke, our loyal friend and asset" Louise rolled her eyes at that title, the Duke would not be a good friend in her eyes, she was afraid to know what he discussed with Zidler. "We are going to transform our beloved Moulin Rouge into a theatre! I know it's like a theatre now, but I'm talking about a real theater with a real audience!" Louise and company sat up a little straighter.

"We will have created the world's first completely modern, entirely electric, totally Bohemian, all-singing, all-dancing stage spectacular!"

"Oh wow" Louise whispered to Geneviéve who was sitting next to her. "Audrey will love this." Suddenly, a huge boulder came crashing into the wall behind Zidler. As people ran around the room, Ziddler rose up completely unscathed. "The show must go on!" As people left the meeting Louise and friends ran around the cabaret. Louise had noticed that Audrey wasn't there and she wanted to get to the bottom of things, the best person to ask would be Satine because she loved Audrey with all of her heart. She knew almost everything about her. She saw Satine and Toulouse walking away with a strange man.

"Satine!" Louise yelled "Have you seen Au—who the hell is this?" Satine gave the children a strange look, the look that you gave people when you were in trouble. She explained herself and tried not to hurt Louise's feelings. "This is Christian, he's the new writer for the play."

Louise gave the trio a sober look. She didn't understand why Audrey would want to back out of a play. Nothing was too much for hers, he could handle anything. "Where's Audrey?" She asked.

"Audrey left." Toulouse replied. Geneviéve, Reneé, and Daniel looked at Louise with care. They knew that she didn't look well and thought that she needed to have some alone time, much like her adoptive mother. They walked out of the new theatre and left Louise to sort things out herself.

"Pardon me sir, can I talk to you? My name's Louise by the way." She said to Christian. They went outside and Louise explained herself. "So you've met Audrey?"

"Yes I have. She's one of Toulouse's friends. They were rehearsing a play and the narcoleptic Argentinean crashed through my floor, then I had to do things for them. It was all so strange. How do you know all of this?"

"I'm her adopted daughter. Usually she writes our plays so it's new for me to see someone else take his place. I'm sorry I overreacted, nice to meet you." Christian smiled; she was a cute little girl and seemed to know a lot about the Moulin Rouge, despite having turned fifteen. He could learn a couple of things from her!

"Why did Audrey leave?" Louise asked"

"I made some revisions to the script she wrote and then Toulouse suggested that we write together, there was a fight and then she just stormed out of the place. I wonder why she would do such a thing."

"Se can be dramatic sometimes. The poor diva must have felt her ego challenged when you walked on the scene and stole the limelight away from her. She thinks that she should have all the glory!" Louise said sarcastically.

Satine came outside. "Christian are you ready to go?" They were going back to Toulouse's place to rehearse their lines for the play. "Yes dear!" After that, the trio disappeared into a cloud of fog and never came back.

* * *

Later on that evening Audrey walked a few miles to Victor's house. He knocked on the door and he answered. "Hi! I'm so glad you came." Audrey had met Victor's parents before. She entered the room and all eyes were on her. Mrs. Sauveterre seemed welcoming, but Mr. Sauveterre, not so much.

"This is Audrey? He's changed a lot! We're so glad to see you again."

"Are you serious? I'm so glad we arranged a marriage for Victor. I mean-"

"Now, don't be rude!"

There was a woman sitting in a chair that Audrey had never seen before. "Audrey, this is Lillian." Victor said. Lillian looked like the typical Bourgeois woman – snobby and had her nose high in the air. Victor's parents thought that he needed to marry a rich woman so he could have more money to support them. Victor disagreed with that though, he felt that he should marry whoever he wanted to.

"It's nice to meet you Lillian." Audrey said. Lillian looked uncomfortable around her and seemed like she was shaking. "My pleasure, would you be useful and get me a new cup of tea? She had offended Audrey by this point, she had never had a woman demand her to do something, usually they were showering her with admiration, but Lillian wasn't a courtesan. She kept calm and talked to her like a true lady would.

"Well, I guess I could. I've always been taught to get things for myself."

"Oh, I'm sorry you just give off the air of a servant." Lillian responded, rather coldly. Audrey was hurt by that comment, but she got Lillian's tea and sat down next to Victor, perhaps Lillian's behavior was a way for Audrey to learn her lesson. She had acted rather snobby towards her friends lately, thinking that her plays were the best of them all. Perhaps Lillian was a way for her to see how she acted towards people. After her first meet with the woman, she had hated her attitude and thought that Victor deserved better. Sadly Victor had pretend to like her when he was around his parents. He had told them before that he didn't want to marry Lillian, but that wasn't good enough for them, especially his father.

_"But I don't want to marry her, she's a pretty girl and all, but we're just not meant to be."_

"It's admirable that you are expressing your feelings, but marrying a woman with money is the best thing for all of us."

"Maybe for you dad, but not me. She has more money than brains I'm afraid. What about Audrey? She would do anything for you. Why can't I marry him?"

"What? She, my ass! Besides, I won't let my son become one of those weird, disgusting, sex-driven imbeciles! You will marry a real woman and stay away from Audrey. He's turned into a monster, I can't bear to look at him."

"Oh Lillian, you're so funny! Hey Audrey, do you think that she can live with you and your house?" He turned to Lillian. "You would love it! There's room for everyone." Lillian cringed at the idea, but managed to act polite, barely masking her bad attitude. "Okay."

Victor's mother sipped her tea and glanced over at her son. "Now dear, you shall treat your new wife with care. Make sure that Audrey provides for her well."

"I will make sure of that mother! Audrey loves everyone; we'll be like one big happy family." He said giving Audrey a big hug. After the long meeting with Victor's parents and his new wife, Audrey walked to the Moulin Rouge, she didn't dare go into the place, only looked through one of the windows. The performers were rehearsing Spectacular, Spectacular. It was not in any way like how she had planned it, Christian really transformed it so it was unrecognizable. She saw Louise watching the performers on the stage. She sighed and walked away from her former place of glory.

"It looks like everyone is doing fine without me. That new writer has won them over. What have I done wrong?" Audrey said out loud. She walked back home and sat alone in the dark, thinking about her fate. "I failed, my career is over."


	13. Louise stands up for herself

It was morning now and Louise was coming through the door, she noticed that Audrey was sitting at her desk, quietly. That was an unusual occurrence. "Are you alright?" she asked. Audrey turned to her, her makeup running down her visibly upset face.

"Sweetheart, I want you to promise me to never go back to that evil place again."

"Huh?"

"The Moulin Rouge is silently destroying me. If you go back there, they will destroy you too." Louise had become confused and a little upset. The cabaret was doing fine when she was there yesterday.

"You're going to be really mad at me when I tell you this, but… the Moulin Rouge is doing fine. I met this man named Christian and he's writing a play that will probably make our cabaret millions! I wish you could have been there, Zidler turned it into a real theatre, I think when he did that he was thinking of you. And…" Before Louise could finish, Audrey threw her into a corner of the room. Something had torn inside of her, it was the last straw.

"That's the point! You met the man who ruined everything! If he told you any of his ridiculous views than I'll fucking kill him, He knows nothing about theatre!" Louise got up and walked away from her dark corner.

"I kind of wanted to see the play that they were doing. It looks interesting. Maybe we can go together?"

"No, I forbid you to go to that play, don't even think about dragging me to that train wreck of a show, I'll just laugh knowing that he failed in making our cabaret successful, the self-righteous prick." After these years, Louise finally snapped. She felt the need to speak her mind no matter what it would cost her. "That's enough Audrey!" For once, Audrey was silent.

"Now Audrey, for once you're going to listen to me." Louise said. "you have controlled me for too long, I should have a right to go see that play if I want to, I don't care if you were 'destroyed' I don't think you were, you just can't handle the fact that someone is better than you!"

"After all that I've done for you, you're going to insult me like this? You better watch out." Audrey said.

"No...no more. I realize that you care about me, I care about you too, but I can't stand that you are always walking around telling people you're better than them, if you think that the new playwright is self-righteous, take a look at yourself. I don't like that side of you, it's ugly and mean!" Audrey started to get tears in her eyes.

"He is!" Audrey said, half sobbing. "his plays are nowhere near as good as mine! He's nothing but scum!" Louise sighed.

"Are you learning anything?" Louise said. "If you calmed down and got to know him you would see that he is really nice, but you won't let go of your ego, ever. That's just how you are. I'll tell you something, not all women act that way you know. You shouldn't try to emulate those over-dramatic courtesans. Why try to fit in when you were born to stand out?" Tears were rolling down Audrey's face.

"I still forbid you to go to that play. You'll stay here and I'll protect you."

"No. I'm going and there's nothing you can do about it. By the way, that playwright has a name. It's Christian. Not idiot, self-righteous prick, or scum. Christian!" Louise ran away, leaving Audrey alone at her desk, she wasn't crying anymore, she was thinking about her future. _"What have I been doing with my life? How should I turn my dramatic life around for the better? I do anything for her."_

The sun was setting on Montmartre and Louise was wearing her best dress with the white lace, her hair done and her face wearing moderate rouge, not to heavy and proper for her age. She walked the streets singing a song – the song of the Moulin Rouge, the song of her memories.

**La lune trop blême  
Pose un diadème  
Sur tes cheveux roux  
La lune trop rousse  
De gloire éclabousse  
Ton jupon plein d'trous  
La lune trop pâle  
Caresse l'opale  
De tes yeux blasés  
Princesse de la rue  
Soit la bienvenue  
Dans mon cœur brisé**

**The stairways up to la butte**  
**Can make the wretched sigh**  
**While windmill wings**  
**Of the Moulin**  
**Shelter you and I…**

Through a distance, she saw Daniel, Renée and Geneviéve on a street corner, waving. "Hey! Over here!" Louise ran to them.

"You look nice." Renée said.

"Yeah! You look really pretty!" Geneviéve replied. The group started walking to the new theatre.

"I'm so glad you guys are here. I was afraid that I was going to this play alone. Audrey was throwing another fit again, I tried to get through to her but I don't think it worked."

"Well, you'll have to give her time." Daniel said. "Audrey has the thickest skull on the planet!" Louise snickered.

"Yeah. I just hope that she learns her lesson someday, think about it, everything that she loves in the world could disappear like that!"Louise said snapping her fingers. "will she think she's better than everyone then?"

"I hope not!" Renée said. "that would be awful. I know that Mademoiselle Audrey has a heart deep down. She loves everyone Louise, she loves you! Don't ever forget that. Louise smiled.

Audrey walked down the old abandoned streets. She was going to go to Victor's house, hoping that she would feel better, but the door wouldn't open. "Hello? Is anyone here?" Audrey could hear voices inside of the house, they sounded like Victor's and Lillian's. Audrey put her ear to the door so she could hear the conversation better.

"I don't like it Victor, it's no better than a wild animal!"

"If you're going to be my wife, you will never call her it! She has a name and it's Audrey."

"No way. If you love that ugly mug more than me that I'm done with this shit! You know that I hate those Bohemian people. They are shameless and probably have all kinds of diseases."

"Ok. Maybe that's what I like. It's a shame that you can't see past Audrey's social status. You can't and you never will. If you think Audrey's disgusting, take a look at yourself."

Audrey was in tears during the conversation, not just because of the things Lillian said or at Victor's noble defenses. She wasn't crying out of happiness at all. She remembered what Louise so angrily said to her. _"If you think he's self-righteous, take a look at yourself!" _Audrey listened to the conversation some more.

"Get out of my house. It's not big enough or high-class enough for you anyway. I'm sorry we couldn't afford a butler." Victor said this so calmly it was almost terrifying.

Lillian walked out of the house, offended. Audrey hid herself to avoid getting hurt by the woman. Once she was out of sight, Audrey knocked on Victor's door. Victor answered.

"Hello. I'm so glad to see you. Please come in." Audrey entered and sat on the only couch the family had.

"I saw Lillian leaving your house." Audrey said.

"You don't have to worry about her anymore. I let her go, I didn't like the things that she said about you, I just couldn't stand it anymore." Audrey pretended that she didn't hear anything they said.

"I wanted to come here because I haven't been feeling that great lately. I want to change my life for the better. Louise was going on this long rant about how I was a self-righteous person and that I think I'm better than everyone else. I was wondering if you can teach me how to act humble." Victor stopped sipping his tea.

"You never used to act this way. I guess theatre really ate away at you didn't it?" Victor said.

"I will admit that. I just want to be humble so Louise will love me again. She hates me now, I'm willing to change myself for her happiness." Victor seemed a little put off.

"Who's Louise?"

"She's my adopted daughter. I adopter her back in 1890, she means everything to me. I'm sorry if I sounded a bit weird, but I always felt like I couldn't live without her. Have you ever known anyone that you couldn't live without?"

"Who knows?" Victor said. "I believe that everyone needs someone in their life. You need Louise just like people need food to survive, right?"

"No… no! It's not like that. I just love her very much. I bet every parent knows what I'm going through. Why do you have to make everything awkward? Victor smiled.

"I'm your best friend. It's my job to embarrass you."

The theatre filled with people in a matter of minutes, becoming crowded. The group was struggling to find seats, however, after about twenty minutes, they found some seats in the front row. They were unfortunately near the Duke. He saw Louise and her friends sit down in their seats.

"Ah, Louise. It's so nice to see you on this lovely night. I hope you enjoy the play, I just know you will." Louise tried to act polite.

"I'm sure I will Sir. I hope you enjoy it too." Louise said, curtsying. She walked back to her seat, trying not to vomit. She was so glad that Audrey taught her how to act, otherwise she would have never survived that moment. Louise started to look at the theatre's walls.

"What's wrong?" Daniel asked.

"Oh, it's nothing. I just feel like maybe I was too hard on Audrey. I know I'm rebellious at times and she doesn't like that. Maybe I let my true self get a hold of me." Daniel held her hand.

"The play will make you feel better. Besides, Audrey might forgive you."

"I hope so." Louise said. "if she doesn't, I don't know what I would do. I really hope she's okay."

The play was going smoothly; it was enthralling to the audience's eyes, the singing and dancing was impeccable. Louise could feel her troubles melting away like an ice cream cone in July. Everything was going great until the last act. Something didn't seem right.

"This woman is yours now! I've paid my whore, and you're nothing to me."

"Hey. Isn't that the new playwright?" Louise said to herself. Her friends were paying attention to the stage.

"Oh my God! That new character is so hot!" Renée whispered.

"Oh knock it off." Her sister whispered back. Louise kept analyzing the stage and what was going on. Christian was walking off the stage, looking like he was in a fit of anger. Louise's eyes widened with awe and confusion, was this improvised or was this actually part of the play? "This playwright must have a real gift for writing if this is part of the play." Louise said to herself. Suddenly, she heard Toulouse's voice from out of nowhere.

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return!" Louise's eyes turned back to the stage when Christian and Satine started singing the finale.

"Come what may. I will love you 'til my dying day." As the finale ended, the group saw the Duke run up to the stage with a gun. Louise started having flashbacks of the day he killed his co-worker for spending too much money, she started sweating out of nervousness. She turned to the stage and saw Harold punch the Duke, sending the gun flying away. Louise and her friends laughed their heads of when they saw that. Before the curtains closed, Louise and company ran backstage to see Satine, they wanted to congratulate her. Unfortunately, that wouldn't happen, Satine would never wake up.

"Satine? Satine are you alright? Darling, what's the matter? Oh God, someone get some help!"

Louise and company were standing next to Nini, who was preventing them from going over to the dying Satine. "Why can't I go over there?" Louise asked Nini.

"She's dying. It's not a pretty sight and I want to spare your eyes."

"But I didn't get to tell her I love her!"

"Just stay over here."

Louise could see Christian holding Satine in his arms. When she was little, Audrey always taught her to act respectful and to always think of others. She let Christan have his moment, which seemed like forever.

"Cold. I'm c—old."

"You'll be alright"

"You've got to go on Christian."

"I can't go on without you can I?"

"Promise me. That I— I will always be with you." It seemed that when Satine died, a little part of the Moulin Rouge died too. Louise looked around the room. Grim faces surrounding her. And hour passed and everyone was leaving, even Christian. People were forcing him to leave despite his constant pleas to stay. Zidler placed Satine in the elephant room and laid her on the bed. Louise went up to him.

"Just let me have a few minutes with her." Louise said, tears forming in her eyes. Her friends were there too.

"Of course." Zidler said.

Louise looked over the bed, sobbing. "I think we should leave her alone." Daniel said. He and the twins looked over the bed, tears in their eyes. "We love you Satine. We'll miss you." Daniel said. "you always made the Moulin Rouge fun." The twins nodded in unison. "It just won't be the same!" they said. They looked at her for one last-minute and left the room. Louise tried to stop herself from crying.

"Thank you for loving me." Louise said. "without you, I wouldn't know my place in life." She leaned over and admired Satine's Hindi dress. She took a good look at the woman for the last time.

"A kiss on the hand may be quite continental." Louise kissed Satine's cold hand. "but diamonds are a girl's best friend."


End file.
